If we can turn meat into juicy meatballs, why can’t we do the same with vegetables? A passing thought I had one day in recipe development while working as a chef instructor back in Chicago. I’ve made plenty of zucchini fritters and latkes before and they taste really good! Zucchini gets a bad rep and it’s one of the CHEAPEST vegetables in the grocery store. Why aren’t we making sculptures out of zucchini? I started to make this meatball just like any other meatball recipe. A few eggs, breadcrumbs, fresh garlic, some parmesan cheese, and fresh herbs. When I poured over the marinara sauce I just about died at how similar these tasted to my family’s Italian meatballs. You can air-fry these in a pinch, bake them in the oven, or my preferred method-searing them in a pan. Serve them up over a bed of warm marinara sauce garnished with more parmesan cheese. I’m willing to bet your whole family will love these.

My first mistake when making these meatballs with squash was not draining the squash. Don’t be like me, drain the heck out of your grated zucchini. The more moisture you get out, the drier and crisper the meatballs get. The best way I’ve found to drain zucchini is to toss the grated zucchini in a bowl with salt. Let the salt pull out the moisture and start to break down the fresh zucchini. This will save you the time and effort of squeezing water out yourself.

Don’t go over the top with fillings! This is a simple meatball recipe converted from using ground meat to zucchini. I have made these stuffed with cheese before and I would advise against it. It makes the middle too soft. Change up what you serve it in! What about serving in a Swedish meatball-style sauce or even a vodka sauce?

This is one of those recipes I will die happy for thinking up. I will continue to keep perfecting my zucchini meatball-making skills by working to make these even crispier. If anything, I hope this recipe just encourages you to get a little braver and cost-efficient with your produce.